


The Spirit of Christmas Present

by shinyskarmorys



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, F/M, Mistletoe, author forces grumpy cat kahuna into the festive spirit at gunpoint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:41:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28449360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shinyskarmorys/pseuds/shinyskarmorys
Summary: Nanu isn't really one to be caught up in festivities or the wintertime spirit - but he'll change his mind if it means giving Siane a Christmas to remember.
Relationships: Kuchinashi | Nanu/Original Female Character(s), Kuchinashi | Nanu/Original Pokemon Trainer(s)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 11
Collections: AssuranceShipping (NanuxSiane) Fics





	The Spirit of Christmas Present

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HybridDragoness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HybridDragoness/gifts).



> Merry (belated) Christmas and happy New Year, Hybrid - I'm your Secret Santa, and I absolutely jumped at the opportunity to write some good good AssuranceShipping fluff with the lovely prompts you gave me! I hope you enjoy the fluff! <3
> 
> Siane is Hybrid's lovely OC and Aedis is the original Pokemon region she's from - both of which belong to Hybrid and you can learn more on her [Twitter](https://twitter.com/HybridDragoness), or better still her excellent fic, [Gale Wings](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27555229/chapters/67396210)!

Alola didn’t quite have a reputation for being a winter wonderland—though Ula’ula Island’s climate was certainly on the cooler side relative to the rest of the tropical paradise, a fact attested by the perpetually rainy Po Town. But one would be hard-pressed to spend one’s Christmas there frolicking in the snow—like in the old movie Acerola was presently enamoured by, snuggled with her favourite uncle and aunt on the couch.

“I don’t get it,” she complained, shoving more popcorn into her face as the credits began to roll. “It always gets so cold here in the winter. How come we never get snow like that?”

“It’s not nearly cold enough for snow down here, Ace,” Nanu explained patiently. “Unless you want me to take you on a hike up Mount Lanakila. It’s not even that far from here.”

“Ooh, maybe we  _ should  _ go to Mount Lanakila! It’s always snowing there. We’ll have a proper white Christmas just like in the movies!”

“Arceus, no,” the kahuna groaned, resting his head on his partner’s shoulder, possibly from instinct at the thought of all the climbing involved. “The holidays are meant for rest and relaxation. Otherwise known as the one time I get a day off and nobody can question it.”

“Don’t sweat it, Ace,” Siane chuckled, gently patting the younger girl on the back, while absentmindedly stroking Nanu’s cheek with her other hand. “I’ve never had a white Christmas before, either. Aedis didn’t really get snow at all.”

“Perhaps you should’ve crash-landed in Sinnoh then, instead of here,” he deadpanned, though with a slight smirk, leaning into her touch. “We’re sorry to disappoint you, babygirl.”

“Oh, please, Nanu.” She returned the smirk, drawing closer and gently pecking his lips. “You could never disappoint me.”

“You guys are gross,” Acerola groaned, pulling a face, though her back was turned to the canoodling couple. “I still think we should go to Mount Lanakila—”

“And I think you should go to bed,” Nanu shot back, reluctantly pulling away from Siane and standing back up, stretching. “It’s already gotten late.”

“But Uncle Nanuuuuu! It’s Christmas Eve!”

“And that’s precisely why you should go to bed earlier,” he reprimanded, shaking his head while eyeing the tiny DIY Christmas tree in the corner of the office, adorned at the last minute with a set of gaudy baubles from the Thrifty Megamart where it had come from. Thankfully the Meowth had decided to leave it alone today; it had been Siane’s idea, as a little festive pop, and the feisty felines had been delighted by its presence—as a festive scratching post. Fortunately, it remained intact for now, so they could save a little bit of tradition at least for his niece’s sake. “Or else you won’t get to open your presents.”

“Fineeeeee,” she pouted, dragging herself to her feet, taking a quick glance towards the office just in case he was bluffing—as if on cue, Alpha the Persian slinked her way around the tree and settled contentedly under it, obscuring from view whatever was underneath, if anything. “I wanted to stay up till midnight for once, but—”

“We’re not staying up either,” Siane smiled, yawning as if to illustrate her point—or subliminally coax Acerola into leaving so she and Nanu could get some alone time now that movie night was done. “You guys don’t have Stantler Claus, do you?”

Nanu raised an eyebrow at her. “Who?”

“Clearly not,” she grinned sheepishly, shaking her head. “I guess it makes sense—Stantler look very different in Aedis, and there’s a whole Christmas tradition… though I suppose even if you did have it here, it doesn’t seem like your kind of thing.”

“Perhaps not,” he grunted, leading his niece forward by the shoulders to escort her to her spare bedroom. Acerola still looked pretty grumpy about the early sendoff, but one firm nod from Nanu and a more chiding gesture from Mini the Absol meant she closed the door with no argument. “Finally. I thought she’d never leave.”

“I didn’t know you were that desperate to have me all to yourself,” Siane winked, putting up her chair and moving forward to where her partner was heading to their own bedroom, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. “Has the holiday spirit finally gotten to you?”

“Hardly,” he laughed sardonically, though his eyes fixed on her couldn’t hide his affection as he pulled her by her waist into a closer embrace. “It’s like I said. It’s the spirit of my one day off. I’d like to revel in it while I can, don’t you think?”

“Oh, Nanu.” She shook her head, shooting him a knowing grin. She knew him well enough to know when he was putting on his hard-boiled exterior facade a little more than necessary. “It’s okay if you don’t like the festivities, you can say so. At least while Acerola isn’t around.”

“It’s true, I don’t really care for them much,” Nanu admitted, rolling his eyes—but paused in a moment of reflection, aided by the warm, reassuring presence next to him of the woman he loved. “Still…”

“Still what?”

He finally looked back up at her as they approached the doorjamb, his red eyes radiating a flicker of the same warmth. “I suppose part of why I keep saying that is because I tend to spend them alone.”

Siane smiled, leaning forward. She’d hit the nail on the head in her assessment. But contrary to what he liked to believe about himself, and present about himself to the world, he’d always been easy to read—at least to her.

“Can’t really say that anymore, can you?” A movement from above her head distracted her for a second, of something green—she cocked her head upwards in a very birdlike gesture, to where a cutting of a plant with long leaves and strange white berries had been hastily taped to the top of the doorway. “What is that?”

“Oh, Arceus,” Nanu groaned, shaking his head, though there was a tinge of red in his cheeks. “That’s mistletoe. That’s definitely Acerola’s handiwork.”

“I don’t understand. Is it a holiday tradition or something?”

“Sort of,” he coughed, eyes darting everywhere other than Siane’s face, his slight blush increasing. “I don’t suppose you have it in Aedis, and I don’t suppose you’ve seen me put it up before, because I haven’t really felt the need. But, ahem, seeing as the festive spirit is inescapable whenever my niece is around, what you do is, you—”

His uncharacteristically nervous ramble was cut off when Siane reached forward, holding a hand to his cheek and pressing her lips to his. She held the kiss there for a good while, unmoving, letting him melt into the touch—then pulled away with a cheeky glint in her eye.

“I was messing with you. We have mistletoe in Aedis, I know perfectly well what it is.” She grinned, resting her forehead against his; if he had any sort of surprise, his flushed face was doing well to mask it. “You can’t hide it from me, kahuna. You do care… just that little bit.”

“Well. You never fail to keep me on my toes, do you, babygirl?” Nanu smirked, wrapping an arm around her waist as he shut the door behind them. “In my defence, the mistletoe is still merely a decoration, because I certainly don’t need an excuse to kiss you.”

“Oh, I know. But you certainly wanted to live up to tradition.”

“Wasn’t me who hung it up there,” he pointed out, shaking his head and glancing out of the window—where it had started raining again, the dip in temperature meaning he could even make out signs of hail. He had to hand it to anyone who could maintain the slightest bit of festive demeanour in a setting such as this one. They had to be some degree of delusional… or perhaps, just longing for something.

Definitely not something he was familiar with, oh no.

“Just wait and watch. We’ll wake up tomorrow morning, and it’ll be a day just like every other day in December, the only difference being I’m off duty. Nothing more.”

* * *

She wasn’t sure what had possessed her to do so, but Siane found herself the first one to wake up on Christmas morning, well before Nanu or Acerola did; she was a bit surprised not to see the young Trial Captain up and about in anticipation of her presents—and the presents themselves were safe and intact under the little tree. Alpha opened one eye and purred a morning greeting to her, but didn’t budge from her guarding post from yesterday.

“Good work, girl. Merry Christmas to you,” Siane grinned, shooting the Persian a wink and heading towards the kitchen to pour herself and Nanu cups of coffee, perhaps with marshmallows this time for the festive touch—when she caught a glimpse outside the little window grille, and gasped.

Surely her eyes had to be deceiving her, or she was sleepwalking. Surely that wasn’t little flecks of white falling in a soft stream from the sky. Sure, it had gotten colder than usual last night, and she’d snuggled up to Nanu a lot more than usual, but—

Dropping the coffee pot back onto the tray with a clatter, she grabbed her dressing gown, hastily tying it as she darted out of the back door—the cold draught that immediately billowed through the fabric and around her bare ankles reminded her she was very poorly dressed for the occasion, but that hardly mattered next to the frozen flakes settling on her arms and nose, and the stupidly wide grin on her face.

_ Snow! Actual snow! In Alola! _

By this time, Nanu was stirring awake, keenly aware of her sudden absence in the sheets next to him, and the unusual crashing sound in the kitchen startled him for a moment. Had something happened? Where had Siane gone? Even after all this time he couldn’t help but worry… surely she was fine and he was overreacting, but he’d always feel the need to protect her…

He had to bundle up a little extra for the unusual cold, but he made it as quick as possible before rushing out to the kitchen, where he saw no one. The chill running over the floor made him realise the back door was open; frowning, he went over to latch it—then saw a sight outside that nearly made his eyes pop out in disbelief.

Actually, two sights. The first was the fresh snow that was now falling fast enough to begin covering the ground in a fine white carpet—not quite Mount Lanakila levels, but still out of the ordinary for the Ula’ula plateaus. The second was his partner prancing about said carpet in her bedroom slippers, waving her arms around like a spinning top while she stuck her tongue out at the flakes, laughing.

“... Siane?”

The sudden sound of his voice momentarily threw her off balance, but she caught herself with all her flier’s grace, waving merrily at him as she tiptoed over. “Oh, Nanu, you’re awake! Can you believe it? It’s snowing!”

“I… can see that,” he murmured, still in a daze, instinctively wrapping an arm around her. “Aren’t… aren’t you cold?”

“Oh, I’m freezing,” she laughed between chattering teeth, immediately leaning into the arm he’d offered. “But I just couldn’t help myself. It was just so unexpected, the snow, and I wanted to see it for myself—maybe check if it was real, as silly as that sounds…”

Part of Nanu wanted to shake his head at her in disappointment for giving him a mild heart attack and then compounding it by running half dressed into extreme weather, and he motioned into it, but caught himself looking at her face—her face that despite the cold was shining; framing her blue eyes that were lit up in wonder… the kind that took him back to when he’d showed her around Ula’ula for the first time. The times he’d found himself almost lost in those eyes, and the way they soaked in every new experience he showed her; how it made him feel he was seeing these places for the first time too, rather than a million… 

But this was different; the snow was just as new to him as it was to her, and if he was still trying to comprehend it, the way it made him feel… maybe the simple answer lay in Siane’s eyes, just as it always did.

He pulled her forward to plant a gentle kiss on her lips, which were already cold to the touch, but he didn’t entirely mind. He could kiss them till they were warm again, and even after.

“That make you feel any warmer, babygirl?”

“Well… yeah, it always does,” she blinked, smiling sheepishly as she returned the kiss. “But I’m pretty sure you’re resisting the urge to tell me to get back inside.”

“Oh, absolutely. I’m getting you right inside and finding every blanket in the house before you catch something.”

Siane chuckled, sticking close and following without protest; the minute they’d shut the back door behind them, they were greeted by an Acerola-shaped mini tornado, still in her pajamas hopping about like she’d consumed twenty candy canes at once.

“Uncle Nanu! Auntie Siane! It’s snowing! IT’S SNOWING!”

“I know, Ace, isn’t it brilliant?” Siane laughed, picking her up and swinging her around while Nanu simply looked on slightly stunned. “But we’d all better get bundled up if we want to go see it proper.”

“Can we go now? We can get breakfast in Malie City! Or the Christmas malasadas they’re doing for brunch!” She grabbed Nanu’s hand in both of hers and stuck her lower lip out in a pleading gesture. “Uncle Nanu, pleeeeease?”

The kahuna couldn’t help cracking a smile—he knew it wasn’t just his niece he was doing this for, but two of the last people he ever wanted to disappoint by being a stick in the mud. “Well, alright. But you had better get dressed now so we can all open our presents first.”

That was incentive enough for Acerola, and the adults made sure to be good on their word too; first, downing the unfinished coffee, before resurrecting the only pieces of heavy-duty winter wear their wardrobes contained—Siane in particular chuckling to herself how she never thought the Piloswine faux-fur coat the Megamart had scammed her into buying would prove useful one day.

Acerola was already waiting for them at the tree, only because Alpha was being dutiful and refused to move without direction from her Trainer; once he gave her the signal, it was everyone’s cue to begin casting aside wrapping paper and cardboard and let out genuine exclamations of surprise at their contents. Nanu and Siane had together pooled for a Banette-themed hoodie and sweater set for Acerola, the former of which she immediately pulled on; while she had gotten them each cards and little snow-globes of their aces—a Persian and a Fearow respectively. She left them then to their own devices and darted through the door, mostly out of impatience to see the snow for herself, but partly in the hope the mistletoe would work.

If only she knew… but some things were best left to the imagination.

Nanu’s gaze lingered on Siane for a moment—then spotted a lumpy package out of the corner of his eye, wrapped in a garish blue packaging he was sure he didn’t pick out. “You didn’t have to—”

“Nonsense. I absolutely did. Ignore the wrapping paper—it was on discount,” she laughed softly, nudging the parcel towards him. “Go on. Open it.”

The kahuna could feel the heat slowly rising in his cheeks again as he carefully thumbed at the wrapping, which concealed newspaper underneath, under which something black and strangely textured was peeking through; casting more of it aside revealed the texture was in fact leather folded over. The little flaps sticking out between each fold already gave him a clue as to what it was before it unfolded, but he went ahead and did it anyway—and was glad he did, because what he was looking at he hadn’t expected at all.

It was a leather jacket as he’d suspected, the woollen collar and extra belts around the sides suggesting it was made more for use while flying than biking—and the design on the back emphasized it; a decal of outstretched Honchkrow wings, but the delicate threading and imperfect curves suggested it was hand-embroidered. He looked back up at Siane after what felt like an eternity, eyes widened. “Did you…?”

His partner simply smiled, nodding. “It was a piece from Aedis I’d been hanging onto for a while, but I didn’t really know what to do with it until the holidays rolled around. Because if I have to repurpose the memories of my old life somehow… I figured the best way to do that is to make them again, with you.”

For once, Nanu was at a loss for what to say, still taking in her words and her gestures, of how much he meant to her after all that she’d been through… then, he finally remembered the parcel he’d left under his desk a few nights ago. “I, ahem… I might have got you something, too.”

“You sneaky man. You didn’t even leave it under the tree.”

“It may have slipped my mind after you distracted me last night,” he retorted with a smirk, standing back up to retrieve the thin box, watching intently as he handed it to her and she tore apart the wrapping a lot less meticulously. But his eyes were on her face, reading her expressions as he always found himself doing, the way the lines around her eyes quirked in the subtle changes from curiosity to surprise to bewilderment to delight—

“Arceus, Nanu,” she gasped, slowly unravelling the contents: a brand-new leather bridle and riding harness set, dyed in the same blue that her Fearow currently sported—with the small addition of a single Dark-type Z-Crystal adorning the side. Her fingers were running themselves absentmindedly along the stitching as she took it in, feeling something prick at her eye. “You shouldn’t have.”

“On the contrary. I noticed Fearow’s current setup was looking a little worn for wear, so I made sure to get it done in the same colours—so it’s essentially a present for you both.” He made a choking sort of grunt, scratching his neck in a sheepish gesture. “I know it’s hardly comparable to Aedisian craftsmanship, but… perhaps consider it my way of giving you a little Alolan flair.”

“I don’t know what to say, I…” Siane let the rest of her sentence hang there as she flung her arms around him, holding him as tight as she could for as long as she could; some days she couldn’t quite believe how lucky she was to be on the receiving end of Nanu’s genuinely caring heart underneath the grizzled exterior… and this was one of them.

“Well, seeing as it hasn’t been said yet, I suppose I might as well.” 

Nanu gently lifted her chin to his to kiss her; there was no mistletoe needed this time—just the love and warmth they’d built out of the trust and learning they’d shared through all the time they’d known each other, all the highs and lows, the strength and assurance in knowing they had each other.

“Merry Christmas, babygirl.”

“Merry Christmas to you too, kahuna,” Siane smiled, returning the kiss, not quite willing to drop her hold. “We should probably go. Can’t keep Acerola waiting.”

Nanu chuckled dryly, leading her to the door at an almost reluctant pace. “I’m sure she’s well occupied.”

“Then maybe we’d better make sure she isn’t  _ too  _ occupied.”

The snow hadn’t ceased, greeting them in a pleasant but chilly shower as they stepped through the front door, instinctively pulling them closer for warmth. Acerola hadn’t gone far, running back towards them and taking both their hands to escort them forward. She’d had her fill of the scenery and now had festive malasadas on the brain, but Nanu and Siane listened on in awed silence as they took it in, hand in hand—the Alolan sun was warm as ever, but not brutal, instead lifting each crystal with its rays so they shimmered across the hilly landscape that stretched towards the distant Lake of the Sunne.

A white Christmas… something Siane could’ve only wished to see, once upon a time. But she could say the same about every day she spent here in Alola, with Nanu; every new day that she was free, and could feel the protective but gentle grip of his hand in hers, was a wish come true in itself.

And Nanu could safely say that getting to hold her just that little bit closer, was the real reason he cherished his one good day off.

  
  



End file.
